Do Not Disturb promotional video

I have a whole flurry of new publications that I need to update all you wonderful people about. One's a story in Rachel Kramer Bussel's latest book, Do Not Disturb: Hotel Sex Stories. "Tropical Grotto, Winter Storm" is the logical outcome of driving past a hotel boasting an indoor waterpark with this call for stories in my brain--and a friend with a fondness for sex on the beach (or in the pool, or even just in the shower) with me.

In any case, there's a trailer for this book up on YouTube. Not X-rated, but definitely racy and not office-appropriate unless you work in a place where images of couples of various gender configurations making out in hotel beds are ok. And if you work in a place like that--are they hiring? In any case, here's the link.

Sale for a Great Cause

Actually, make that sales, for I am in the upcoming benefit anthology Coming Together: Al Fresco two and a half times (twice under my own name, once with a Sophie Mouette story.) Dayle has a story in here too (as Andrea Dale). The TOC is listed below; I don't know all the writers represented, but enough of them to say that this will be one fine anthology, with many great stories that take the theme of "sex outdoors" and create unique, hot, romantic visions.

Acceptances might be a better word than sales, because this anthology benefits Conservation International, so this fine organization, not the Roberts-Collins Family Vacation Fund, will benefit from the proceeds. What does that mean? It means that I'm really urging you to buy this book!

Right now, in fact! Release date is Earth Day 2009, but you can pre-order it right now. It's an ebook (very eco-friendly) so you don't even have to pay postage.

http://allromanceebooks.com/product-comingtogetheralfresco-14361-166.html

Here's the line-up:
Adam & Eve on a Raft (Robert Buckley)
Afternoon of a Faun (Helen E.H. Madden)
Anal Alley (Sommer Marsden)
Ask for It (Jude Mason)
Blonde on a Harley (Teresa Noelle Roberts)
For Want of a Woodpecker (Ripley Patton)
Foreign Parts (Rachelle Le-Monnier)
Hailey's Comet (Jae Knight)
Happy Endings (Jamie Hill)
Hidden in Fog (Teresa Noelle Roberts)
Mahalo (Allison Wonderland)
Making Rain (Angela Caperton)
Midnight Ménage à Trois (Heather Smith)
Natural Tease (Arya Rewan)
Outside in the Rain (Andrea Dale)
Pantheism 101 (Alessia Brio)
Paradise Valley (Michelle Houston)
Reclining Buddha (Lisabet Sarai)
Rites of Consummation (Nicole Gestalt)
Silver Bells and Cockle Shells (Shanna Germain)
Slow Burn (Sophie Mouette)
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Rita Winchester)
Sparrow Takes Flight (Giselle Renarde)
The Journey Home (Jasmine Black)
The Roof (Selena Kitt)
Untouched Perfection (Moondancer Drake)
Wet as Spring (Robin Elizabeth)
Wildlife (Randy Foster)

And now for something completely different

If you read my more personal blog, you've already seen this. Apologies, but it fits here too...

Housewife-Writer’s Imbolc

I chop potatoes and beef, weep
At the pungent beauty of diced onions, use
The alchemy of fire to feed love with stew.
Brigid, let my cooking be devotion to you.

I sweep my floor, make order from chaos,
Fold warm, sweet-scented flannel sheets and hang
My beloved’s uniforms fresh for the week.
Brigid, let my housework be devotion to you.

I order seeds, sigh at my snowy garden, turn frail seedlings
(Two true leaves now, recognizable as lettuce, chard, argula)
Toward light that grows stronger each day.
Brigid, let my tending of the earth be devotion to you.

I put on chant in an ancient language, stretch
My body and mind toward health and serenity,
My spirit toward something eternal.
Brigid, let this healing practice be devotion to you.

Finally, it is time. I light a red candle that fills
My office with cinnamon, turn on
My computer, open myself to story-telling and enter
The world I weave with my words.
Brigid, once this word-web was all I allowed myself.
But I have seen your other faces, seen
That there is more to me than an empty shell
Through which songs and stories pass into the world.
Brigid, let my words be devotion to you,
No more and no less than the holy work
Of keeping a home, feeding those I love,
Learning to heal what is broken.

Imbolc 2009